Patient Stories: Julie's Story

Julie's Story

The birth of a child is one of life’s most precious miracles. But going through multiple labors can damage muscles that support a woman’s pelvic organs, often resulting in two bothersome conditions: pelvic organ prolapse, and stress urinary incontinence. Julie began to notice symptoms of bladder leakage after the birth of her three children.

Julie loved to exercise, but she soon discovered that after her pregnancy, if she drank any water, it would just come out during her exercise. She learned to love running in the rain as that was the only way to hide her bladder leakage. She could also no longer do the cardio classes she had previously loved due to the constant fear of wetting herself.

Eventually, Julie started to become depressed as she didn’t “feel that old” and did not like the thought of having to wear Depends for the rest of her life.

The day finally came when Julie sought help for her pelvic issues when a friend of hers referred her to urogynecologist. After this initial appointment, Julie began physical therapy to help improve her pelvic muscle floor, and while it did help, she was still experiencing bladder leakage. Julie went back to see her urogynecologist and this time was given a specific test to determine how much leakage she had and whether or not she was a candidate for surgery. The test determined that surgery was the best option for Julie.

“I wasn’t surprised; I was actually relieved that it wasn’t just me drinking too much water or drinking too much coffee or – I just wanted to get it taken care of. I didn’t want to just live with it anymore.”

Julie’s surgery for stress urinary incontinence took less time than she expected. The surgery was outpatient and lasted about 45 minutes. Julie did experience soreness for a couple of days following the procedure but was able to get up and walk around shortly after and resume all of her normal activities after four weeks.

After her recovery, Julie feels that she can live her life again with no limitations. “I can do whatever I want in my exercise class, and I don’t feel limited at all. It’s really exciting, and I feel like I am young again.”

“It affects a lot more women than we probably know and the treatment is life changing in such a positive way that you will never doubt getting it taken care of.”